Why Protecting Your Valuables is Important When Valet Parking

As part of PMSA’s ongoing campaign to advise consumers,  we explain the risks involved whenever they choose to use any valet parking services.

Parking Management Services of America publishes articles from time to time that we hope will answer the most popular questions within our industry. Leaving valuables in your vehicle when valet parking is one of the more important topics, and so will explain why protecting valuables is a must for any client.

Most, if not all, insurance carriers of valet parking companies will not cover missing articles from a vehicle if there is any doubt that the article existed to begin with. This has been the position taken by most insurance carriers to prevent fraudulent claims. At Parking Management Services of America, our advice to clients has always been to avoid leaving any valuables in their vehicle whenever they choose to valet park. This is not because of the integrity of the valet service itself, but because the valet parking company cannot be held responsible for the missing valuables if they were not found to be negligent. Negligent is defined in the insurance industry as “failure to use a reasonable amount of care when such failure results in injury of damage to another.” As a result, clients should take preventive measures whenever valet parking in their effort for protecting valuables.

Here is an example. If you have your laptop in your vehicle and you did not inform the valet service of this fact prior to giving your vehicle, then you lost the opportunity to confirm that the laptop existed to begin with. If the laptop is missing when your vehicle is brought back, you now have to prove that the laptop existed initially, and that may not be so easy. If the valet company was informed of this fact prior to parking your vehicle, they can now be found negligent even if your vehicle was broken into or vandalized. This is because a reputable valet company would choose to park the vehicle in close sight in order to monitor your vehicle while it is in their care.

When choosing to valet park, PMSA encourages all clients to discuss liability and insurance coverages with their valet parking service provider directly. It is also a good course of action to verify if the parking operator is a member of the National Parking Association (NPA) and the Better Business Bureau. Parking Management Services of America, as well as other reputable parking operators, are respective members of such organizations.